DWAYNE CRENSHAW FOR SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL

In the May 21 special election to fill the vacant District 4 seat on the San Diego City Council, there are two smart ways for voters to evaluate the candidates.

The first is whether they want a council representative in the mold of recent incumbent Tony Young, who resigned Jan. 1 to serve as CEO of the regional chapter of the American Red Cross.

The second is whether they want a council representative with deep roots in District 4, which encompasses numerous communities in southeastern San Diego.

On both fronts, Dwayne Crenshaw, formerly executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, is an easy choice over Myrtle Cole, who is campaigning while on leave from her job as regional coordinator with the United Domestic Workers Local 3930.

Young was both a progressive and a pro-business force on the City Council, winning a bipartisan cadre of admirers. As a gay activist who emphasizes the importance of job creation, Crenshaw fills the Young mold nicely.

Cole, by contrast, never says a word that is at odds with the union sponsors who plucked her out of political obscurity and used an advertising blitz to lift her to first place in the first round of voting. This isn’t a case of an established Democratic politician allying with unions with similar political views. This is the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council deciding it has the might to turn the 4th District City Council seat into the labor council’s City Council seat by using heavy spending to clear a path to victory for a political unknown.

Crenshaw has far deeper roots and far more of a track record of accomplishment in the southeast San Diego community than Cole. Consider how he responded to one of the biggest gripes from District 4 residents: the lack of full-service grocery stories. While director of government relations and community ownership for the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, Crenshaw joined in the successful effort to develop Market Creek Plaza, which brought a Food 4 Less to the district.

Cole, meanwhile, has openly admitted that she began the race with little name recognition in the district. She’s also caught deserved grief for a campaign flier that implied she had lived and worked in the district for more than 20 years.

And while on the campaign trail, Cole hasn’t displayed a strong grasp of the compelling issues in the 4th district — the need for more and varied commercial areas, updated city planning guidelines, reduced crime and more. Perhaps this is why she chose to skip her endorsement interview with the U-T Editorial Board at the last moment.

By contrast, in his interview, Crenshaw held forth confidently and intelligently on many district issues. His comments were informed not just by his community activism and leadership but his master’s degree in government and his law degree.

For all these reasons and more, the choice for voters is clear: Dwayne Crenshaw for City Council.